According to the rules, those who don't complete their story are ineligible for future exchanges. I'm not even sure if it's happened before--this is not a part of the community that I'm usually heavily involved in as a mod!--but if we go with our rules, they won't be welcome back next year. I don't think any of us want to play the heavy, but Dreamflower is also so, so generous always with working with people that it's really ridiculous to have had three authors completely flake out like this without even giving us some kind of heads up.

It sucks, but I hope the last-minute stories will be ready to post by this evening! :)

As an recipient who didn't get a story one year when everyone else did, I have to say I appreciate the delay for the sake of whoever doesn't have a gift yet, even though it makes everyone wait. It is not a happy feeling to see no gift with your name on it!

That said, I'm rooting for the pinch-hitters and hopeful we'll all be enjoying our fics this evening!

Seconding Himring's question! Unless you've heard from the remaining writers and know that they're close to done, it might be reasonable to send the prompts to the pinch hitters list at this point? There's no harm in people getting more than one fic, if the original writers are able to finish after all, but to have anyone left without a gift would be sad.